The year 1855 is a date recognised to any oenophile as the year Bordeaux was classified. This was not the vineyards' own doing for self-promotion or plan to get higher prices from the patrons who enjoy the wine. It was a simple order by Napoleon
A TEAM of disabled teenagers from Oxfordshire won gold in a “mini Paralympics”. The 10 students from Fitzwaryn School in Wantage competed against teams from three other counties at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium, near Aylesbury, birthplace of the
PART of Oxford has gone Dutch thanks to a new cycle scheme. Oxfordshire County Council has transformed Jack Straw’s Lane between Marston and Headington into a Dutch-style “bicycle street”. It is hoped the £70,000 scheme will address local concerns
LONDON Welsh today hinted they are more likely to remain in Oxfordshire next season than return to the capital. Welsh chairman Bleddyn Phillips issued a long statement in which he said there were “at least two or three opportunities” available
Q My mother lets a room in her house to someone. He has stopped paying the rent and refuses to leave. Is that person a squatter? A No. The essential characteristic of a squatter is someone who knowingly enters a residential building as a trespasser
A car crash is causing long delays on the M40 northbound this afternoon. A driver smashed his blue ford fusion into the central reservation between junctions six and seven near Thame shortly before 2pm. He was treated at the scene by paramedics
Our pick of the week's best gigs... Festival WYCHWOOD FESTIVAL Cheltenham Racecourse Tomorrow-Sunday Weekend tickets £120 for adults (day and concs tickets available). 01993 772580 wychwoodfestival.com
Hugh Laurie impresses with another bluesy raid on the musical vaults of the deep South Hugh Laurie Didn’t it Rain Warner Music AS a comedian, director and serious actor, Oxford-born Hugh Laurie is among television
If yet more proof were needed that more and more of us are becoming interested in local history, then the fact that things called heritage centres are springing up in diverse parts of the county must be it. In Henley, a former Chapel of Ease in
Choreographer Cecelia MacFarlane tells MATT OLIVER how working in Japan influenced her latest work which is now being performed at Oxford Castle Look east to Japan and you won’t be far from where choreographer Cecelia MacFarlane and her dancers
BYZANTIUM (15) Horror/Drama/Romance. Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Caleb Landry Jones, Daniel Mays, Tom Hollander, Sam Riley, Jonny Lee Miller. Director: Neil Jordan. Long before Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart sank their pearly whites
THE PURGE (15) Horror/Thriller/Action/Romance. Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane, Edwin Hodge, Rhys Wakefield, Tony Oller. Director: James DeMonaco. While MPs continue to be divided over the legalisation of drugs as a
ANDREW FFRENCH reviews the latest releases to hit the bookshelves * Big Brother by Lionel Shriver is published in hardback by HarperCollins, priced £16.99 (ebook £10.99). Pandora, the main character and our narrator in Big Brother, is described
TIM HUGHES talks to the innovative, and refreshingly honest, writer, musician and producer Ghostpoet Obaro Ejimiwe, is more than a musician. Crafting narrative verse and gritty observations to electronic beats and beautiful piano and guitar lines
AN INFLUENTIAL Latin scholar at Oxford’s Corpus Christi College has died at the age of 87. Prof Robin Nisbet carried out an important study of the Roman philosopher Cicero and put together a commentary on the first three books of Roman poet Horace
A PROMINENT expert on the ozone layer has died at the age of 87. As a young postgraduate student in the early 1950s Desmond Walshaw studied Gordon Dobson, who developed the ozone spectrophotometers to measure the amount of atmospheric ozone.
* Continuing to serve their American-style dishes with a complimentary topping of retro pop culture, Atomic Burger’s new special is inspired by a certain fool-pitying character from The A Team. ‘The Amazing Mr T’ is a burger that comes with BBQ
KATHERINE MACALISTER realises she can’t keep the joys of The Milkshed to herself forever... It’s been a torrid few weeks here in restaurant land, when nothing has gone according to plan. My voyage to new Abingdon restaurant Broadface wasn’t
* Millets Farm Centre has been home to some top entertainment this half-term week, paying host to John Lawson’s Circus. From seat-grabbing sword stunts to classic clowning around, this is family entertainment at it's best, and the fun continues four
THE weather was dreadful last June but the gloom was slightly lightened by the presence of nearly 40 comedy gigs in the county. Let’s hope the weather is better this year because there are fewer dates. No stand-up at the big city centre theatre but
MATT OLIVER talks to actor Chris Larner about the difficulties and the rewards of putting on a play about his wife Allyson’s assisted suicide in a clinic in Switzerland On November 6, 2010, Chris Larner accompanied his wife Allyson, who suffered
THE BIG WEDDING (15) Comedy/Romance. Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Ben Barnes, Amanda Seyfried, Katherine Heigl, Topher Grace, Patricia Rae, Ana Ayora, Robin Williams. Director: Justin Zackham. Based on the 2006 French farce
TIM HUGHES looks forward to the first, and one of the nicest, big al fresco music events of the summer – lovely Wychwood Festival GRAEME Merrifield is a happy man. After a year of careful planning, the fruits of his labour are about to pay off
TRIBUTES have been paid to the “dedicated” vice-chairman of West Hanney Parish Council who has died at the age of 81. Tony Day served on the council for more than 25 years, “sparring” with planning officers in a fight to save the village from “
Candy Says leave a packed church awe-struck with a luscious 'coming out party' It is seven years since Juju Sophie Heslop unleashed her imagination on stage as part of the hard-rocking Little Fish. Not that you’d know it. Her show among the
What is a dealegon when it is at home? Well, there is the point: it never is at home. According to the Oxford English Dictionary it is a neighbour whose house has caught fire, and who has thereby been rendered homeless. Having been one myself a
Tim Hughes looks forward to a sneak preview of this summer's Wilderness festival - at the Ashmolean WHILE festival-lovers will be digging out sleeping bags and wellies, and scraping the mould from badly-packed tents ahead of this weekend’s Wychwood
Moody Blues star Justin Hayward tells Tim Hughes the band is better than ever Justin Hayward smiles as he casts his mind back over more than 50 years in the music industry. “I’ve had a few slices of luck,” he says modestly. “People have met
Nicola Lisle talks to the director of Cogges Manor Farm about plans for Witney’s favourite attraction From wildlife to weddings — it’s all happening at Cogges these days. Following a major revamp over the winter, there are now nature trails and
Dr Taj Hargey on the challenges facing Islam and Muslims in Britian today The horrific killing of a British soldier in Woolwich last week is utterly reprehensible. This monstrous murder fills all thinking British Muslims with revulsion but re-energises
The reckoning is at hand and Huw Fullerton has the flowers to prove it Oxford is currently in the midst of Trinity Term, aka the summer term (by now you’ll be aware that we need weird names for everything. I’m pretty sure even Cambridge go for
A BAKERY ingredients company has invested £2.5m in new equipment at its Bicester factory. British Bakels, based on the Glanville Way Industrial Park, has commissioned new lines of equipment that bosses hope will introduce a more scientific approach
A TEAM of Oxford scientists has taken a critical step towards developing a quick and accurate test for malaria. Dr Climent Casals-Pascual spent nearly five years in Africa before heading up the team at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics
YOUNGSTERS have been trying to make as much profit as possible with just £10. One group of Year Seven pupils at Cherwell School – Three Mega-Selling Billionaires (3MSB) – have been selling fruit smoothies and fresh orange juice at lunchtimes.
POLICE are to press ahead and close Wood Farm police base despite residents’ fears about crime. The PCSO office in Atkyns Road is to shut in the next two months, with officers relocated to Cowley police station. But people on the estate are
ICE hockey players Joe Edwards and Ricky Young visited charity SpecialEffect to launch a year-long partnership. The pair, both 23, from Oxford City Stars, visited the Charlbury-based charity to meet staff and try out some of the special equipment
A SCHOOL’S governing body has criticised the new Ofsted inspection framework after an outstanding school was downgraded. Michael Waine, head of governors at Bicester’s Cooper School, described the system – introduced last September – as a “blunt
IN this week's edition of the Banbury Cake, it was reported the Keep The Horton group would be meeting managers of the Oxford University Hospital Trust about the future of services at the hospital. That meeting is taking place on Monday. That meeting
AS criminals and terrorists assume the right to execute people they take a dislike to, is it not time this country should reimpose the death penalty for murder? Why should killers be allowed to live the rest of their lives in comparative comfort
The lovely weather over the bank holiday brought a lot of visitors to Shotover, but it did not, as far as I could see, bring any bees and wasps to feast on the abundance of sweet smelling bluebells and vivid yellow gorse flowers. Perhaps this is
OXFORD: Oxford University has dashed Boris Johnson’s call to name a college in honour of Margaret Thatcher. The Mayor of London asked the Global Universities Summit in London yesterday: “Why not have a college in honour of their greatest post-war
THESE children are set to be the envy of all their schoolmates. Until the end of the summer term, 30 four and five-year-old children at Oxford’s St Ebbe’s Primary School will be based in a yurt for all their lessons. The school is moving from
JULIEN Lhomme edged to victory in the Wallingford 10K Thames Run. The Headington Road Runner clocked 34mins 50secs for the off-road course, edging out Finland’s Petri Juuti by two seconds. OXFORD University student Fabian Downs finished tenth
OXFORD CITY Tower Trophy: 1 G Hoult 71-6=65, 2 J Cuddy 80-12=68, 3 A Bray 81-12=69. OXFORD LADIES Medal & McGregor Quaich – Div 1: 1 D Chappelle nett 74, 2 L Morgan 75, 3 M Findlay 76. Div 2: 1 W Austin nett 74, 2 S Sadler 76, 3 D Torgersen
Oxford City & County’s Donna Knight and Banbury Borough’s Caroline Campion are through to the National Singles Championships at Leamington Spa in August. They booked their places after qualifying from the semi-finals at Banbury Chestnuts where
Oxfordshire made a disappointing start to the defence of their Home Counties League title with a 16-6 defeat by Surrey at South Oxford. Oxon, with Chris Gilkes and Paul Skidmore making their debuts, went down 108-104 on shots after sharing the
South Oxford Adventure Playground reopened yesterday following a raid by burglars on Monday night. Nicky Pear, play leader at the popular attraction off Whitehouse Road – known as SOAP – said: “It is fantastic to be open again. We have had 30 or
Police last night again urged the eyewitness of an alleged rape to come forward. They believe the man can help following a suspected sex attack in Headington on Tuesday last week. A 17-year-old girl told police she was attacked by a man in
CARE services will struggle to recruit suitable workers if cuts to pay and holiday days for staff go through, a union has warned. Unison spoke out after Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust moved to change terms and conditions for 548 county employees
KENNINGTON’S Steven Sheard and Pauline Withey captured the individual honours at the Johnsons Buildbase Oxford League annual finals at Gladiators Club, writes PETE EWINS. Sheard retained his crown by beating Vikings’ Ian Moss. Moss took the
CHINNOR and Henley’s second teams have been promoted to Division 1 of the restructured Zoo Sports Shield. Division 2 North champions Chinnor, and Henley, who finished third, will now face opponents including the reserves of Championship clubs Jersey
Oxford City & County A, who shocked Headington A in their opening Division 1 game of the Oxford & District League, sponsored by Yarnton Nurseries, followed up with a 41/2-11/2 win at Carterton. Rink wins by Mark Hancock and Chris Earl gave
Oxfordshire Under 25s ran out 43-29 winners over Berkshire in the White Rose Trophy at Thatcham. Gary May’s rink of Dean May, Darren Wakeman and Dan Wakeman recorded an emphatic 24-8 victory over skip BJ Byles to secure victory in the national
The Grove-based Williams F1 team today announced an engine deal with Mercedes-Benz from the 2014 season. Under the terms of the agreement, Williams will be supplied with a Mercedes-Benz Power Unit (Internal Combustion Engine plus Energy Recovery
OXFORDSHIRE TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS SEVEN athletes enjoyed gold medal hat-tricks on a successful weekend at Horspath. There were field event trebles for Radley’s Francisco Jesus, Aislinn Baird, Kathryn Woodcock and Nicole Burger, plus
Superfast 4G, which looks set to revolutionise the way business people operate while on the move, swept into Oxfordshire this week. We are the latest in a stream of areas across the UK to be switched on to the new mobile phone and Internet coverage
LONDON Welsh have suffered a major blow with the news that stalwart captain Jon Mills and hooker Neil Briggs have left the club. Mills has joined Sale Sharks and Briggs has moved to Leicester Tigers. Skipper Mills was the Exiles player of the
TROUBLE in paradise is already detected as the new alliance at County Hall enjoys its honeymoon period. Not only did Independent Mark Gray’s failure to vote cost Tory Lawrie Stratford a committee vice-chairmanship at the annual meeting earlier
Berks & Bucks And Staff College & RMAS Draghounds Description's win at Kingston Blount, near Chinnor, provided Alan Hill’s Aston Rowant yard with a small measure of consolation following the earlier fatal fall of Mzuri Bay. Gina Andrews
Chipping Norton-based amateur rider Charlie Deutsch was banned for 12 days after taking the wrong course on Benefit Night at Cartmel yesterday.
THROUGHOUT the double dip recession many Oxfordshire businesses reported they were bucking the economic trend. While most were affected by the credit squeeze and general downturn, there was a raft of evidence that county firms had used a combination
S THE crisis in Syria gets ever more brutal, it seems that are there are those who insist that the western world cannot just stand by and watch civilians being massacred, but at the same time insist that military aid to the ‘opposition rebels’ is completely
PAUL Marlow’s letter (ViewPoints, May 23), ought to be compulsory reading not only for Oxford Mail readers but also Cabinet ministers, MPs and politicians, both local and national. I say Mr Marlow’s letter, but it would be construed a delivery
As Head of the new Tyndale Community School, I felt compelled to respond to the points raised in your front-page article and your comment piece ‘The devil is in the detail’ (Oxford Mail, May 29) by making it clear the school is moving forward and will
Headington's Remy Clanfield has earned a recall as Oxfordshire open their Middleton Cup campaign against Middlesex at Bush Hill Park on Saturday. He will play at No 2 in an all-Headington rink skipped by Mark Charlett, with Mick Nash at lead and
Josh Randall laid on two touchdowns as Oxford Saints came from behind to win 19-12 at home to Bournemouth Bobcats in BAFA National South. The hosts got away to a bright start at Abingdon and led through Troy Smith’s touchdown. But the Bobcats
WHEN, oh when, are the residents of Kidlington going to get a safe walkway, like Bicester and Banbury, through the village High Street. We now have vehicles driving right through the High Street and exiting out of the top end across the Oxford
SCHOOLS are being forced to come up with increasingly creative ways to cope with growing numbers of children. So we have to applaud the ingenuity of St Ebbe’s Primary School in using a yurt to house one of its classes. Instead of having to
CHRISTIAN Von Eitzen claimed two county records in the Oxfordshire Track & Field Championships at Horspath. The 16-year-old, from Abingdon, starred on a weekend which also saw four other athletes set Oxfordshire bests. Von Eitzen, who competes
I HAVE to break a promise I made not to reply to the churlish response to Ian Cummings, but I will not be misquoted. I challenge him to say where I stated Tory councillors were nasty. I referred to Tory ideology not individuals, can’t he see the
No says Craig Middleton, partner at Cluttons property consultants Little Clarendon Street has long held the reputation of being a boutique food, beverage and retail venue. The street has undergone a transformation and the new multi-million
OXFORD United's pre-season schedule is nearly complete after confirming three more fixtures. They return to action on July 6 with a trip to Ardley United, before heading off on a tour, which is believed to be in Scotland. In addition to a game
Part of a road closed for water main repair work is due to reopen by 11.30am today. Thames Water is replacing part of a broken 18-inch cast iron pipe opposite Oxford Crown Court in St Aldate’s and temporary traffic lights have been used during
ORGANISERS of an Oxford college ball which went wrong have apologised to the 1,000 people who attended. The ball, organised by Jesus College and Somerville College, was supposed to be a “last night of decadence, debauchery, and indulgence” but
Folly Bridge will close for resurfacing work overnight next month. The bridge, at the top of Abingdon Road will be closed from 8pm on Monday, June 10 to about 6am on Tuesday, June 11.
The funeral of a man found dead with head injuries will take place on Friday, June 7. Melvin Hillier, 52, of Carterton, died at Tower Centre, in Alvescot Road, on March 21. A service is to be held at Oxford Crematorium in Bayswater Road at
A CONTROVERSIAL Oxfordshire level crossing where a man died in January failed again yesterday. Network Rail engineers said a circuit track failure was to blame for problems at Sandy Lane crossing near Yarnton. The barriers failed in the down
AN ACCOUNTANT has told a jury he was not part of a conspiracy to inflate the value of software firm Torex Retail. Mark Woodbridge, 42, is accused of conspiracy to defraud shareholders in the company, which had offices in Witney and Banbury, along
FOUR soldiers raised more than £3,400 for meningitis victim Charlotte Nott by cycling, running and rowing the distance from Oxford to Afghanistan. Staff sergeant Mark Dowland, 30, senior aircraftsman Scott Lee, 26, and private Scott Rossington,
A PARANOID schizophrenic who raped a pensioner with dementia after breaking into her home has had his sentencing adjourned. Daniel Smith, from Milton Keynes, pleaded guilty to one count of rape and one count of burglary following the incident in
WITHOUT him, Cowley’s car plant might never have existed. But after falling out with William Morris, his friend and mentor, Leonard Lord vowed to destroy what he had once helped build. Lord, later to become Baron Lambury, died in 1967, leaving
Lost Lanes: 36 Glorious Bike Rides in Southern England by Jack Thurston (Wild Things, £14.99) promises rides “within easy striking distance of London”, but also takes in the Cotswolds, Isle of Wight and the Suffolk/Norfolk border. Three are easily
Review of Radical by Maajid Nawaz (WH Allen, £12.99) Born and raised in Southend, Maajid Nawaz was a victim of unprovoked attacks, the so-called “Paki-bashing” by groups of white men; and he suffered from the institutional racism in the police revealed
SCOTT Davies says the warm welcome he received in a short spell at Oxford United meant there was no hesitation in choosing to stay for next season. The midfielder joined as a free agent in March and went on to feature in the last 12 games of the
OXFORD 1 The long-awaited deal for the new £400m Westgate Centre was signed this month. John Lewis’ three-storey store will provide the centrepiece of the new development, which will create 2,650 jobs and will also include a cinema. A planning
FORGET the recession – Oxfordshire is riding on the crest of a £1bn development boom as it continues to buck the trend towards a brighter future. Business leaders, property experts and council bosses are united in the belief that the county economy
The final match of the season for Oxfordshire in the open division of the Chiltern League was a home fixture against Berkshire on April 27. This was also the final match in charge for Oxfordshire’s captain Ian Brooke after some 15 years at the
The film world is still in a ferment because a three-hour epic about teenage lesbians won the Palme d'or at Cannes. But, while the graphic sex scenes in Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warmest Colour have certainly proved a talking point, Régis Roinsard
Two genuine classics of the form lead off our survey of the latest documentary releases on DVD. The first is one of the earliest examples of the docudrama, while the second is a masterpiece of cinéma vérité, which not only transformed the way in which
OXFORDSHIRE’S top hospital boss said he is “committed” to keeping services at the Horton General Hospital after concerns from campaigners. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive Sir Jonathan Michael spoke after emergency abdominal
THE rain hasn’t dampened everybody’s spirits week. The downpours gave three-year-old Louisa Jarry, pictured, a chance to splash around in the puddles of Bury Knowle Park in Headington. Louisa’s aunt Jemma Underdown, 31, from Headington, pictured
FOUR STARS "But must my sons be slaughter’d in the streets/For valiant doings in their country’s cause?” The heartfelt plea by Tamora, Queen of the Goths (Katy Stephens) on behalf of the soldier Alarbus (Nicholas Prasad) took on an almost
It’s “the greatest Old Master drawing in the world” — and we have it here in Oxford. The curators of the sublime Master Drawings exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum where this peerless Raphael is one the stars agreed, “It’s as simple as that. They don
TRAFFIC was diverted away from Carfax in the centre of Oxford after an alert was raised over a man in the tower. Police closed the area around Carfax Tower from 4.30pm until just after 5pm when the man left the tower. Bus services passing
When Nicolas Kynaston heads to Christ Church in just under two weeks’ time, it will all be about reviving memories. The memories are of his own recollections of teaching and playing in Oxford, and memories of former graduate student Dr Andrew Chamblin
A 17-YEAR-OLD suffered facial injuries and concussion after an “completely unprovoked” robbery in Oxford. The victim was walking along a cycle path near Blackbird Leys Road when he was attacked by three youths at about 10.30am on Tuesday.
‘You’ve read the book, you’ve seen the film, now eat the pie.” Thus ran the joke when Watership Down, with all its cuddly rabbits, was in the news. On a similar principle, Nick Funnell, chef at the RSC’s Rooftop Restaurant at Stratford, has created
The stage is set for the return next week of Shakespeare-on-the-water at Worcester College. The production of The Merchant of Venice by the student drama group the Buskins is thought to be the first major dramatic offering for more than half a century
